When I moved to this house 8 years ago I brought a large cement birdbath with me. Over the years I have added some feeders and other birdbaths, mostly from the hardware store. This year I filled out a questionnaire to have my yard designated as a wildlife habitat. The plaque is in the mail.

My granddaughters spend hours watching the birds (rabbits, squirrels, etc.) with me and lately their parents have spent a few evenings watching the birds, too. The parents even showed a desire to put some feeders at their house, only 10 blocks away.So...a few days ago was my daughter's and my shared birthday. Lunch and a shopping trip together is how we usually celebrate. This time I suggested a college town not too far away for lunch. I knew there was a Wild Birds, Unlimited store there.

By the time we finished at that store the family had a lovely green glazed birdbath with a locking bowl and a small bubbler in the middle (not in the online catalog). They also had the starter set of The Advanced Pole System, The large Quick-Clean tube feeder for regular seed and the large Quick-Clean Finch Feeder. In fact I got a pair of the tube feeders for myself, too.MY DAUGHTER'S FAMILY BIRD STATION

MY NEW FEEDERS (and the old seed-cake feeder)

Of course, we had to get seed (non-sprouting) for each kind of feeder, too. There were a number of Wild Bird Unlimited publications for us and for the children as well, and a special Oriole feeder for me.We went back to my daughter's house after lunch and her husband went right to work getting the garden by the patio and door-wall all set up. Within the hour a bright finch had found the finch feeder. By this morning they had plenty to watch, Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Sparrows and more. The girls and their parents have a little viewing area set up with chairs and table in the shade of the big 42 year old evergreen. Photographing their birds can't be far behind.

I HAVE to get one of those Advanced Pole Systems for MY yard. I have 3 of the regular hardware store hook and pole systems but, now I want the better one.